PodWorks 2.8.5/2.9

Sci-Fi Hi-FiRating: (four burnt toasts)

Buzz Andersen13756 W Amherst WayLakewood, CO 80228US

Collateral damage:65% disk space wasted

PodWorks is a Mac OS X (Cocoa) application that compensates for the iPod's only downside: Apple only allows you to copy songs to your iPod. If you have two Macs and want to use your iPod to transfer music from one to the other, or you only store your MP3s on your iPod and need to copy them back onto your hard drive after a disk failure, you are out of luck! - PodWorks blurb

Buzz Andersen really wanted to work for Apple. Following his career at the University of Denver Buzz devoted himself to creating a killer app that would attract the powers that be in Cupertino and hopefully net him an employment interview. He finally lucked out in 2003. Now, for reasons he explains online, he is leaving Apple. One would hope he chooses to exploit his new found leisure time to finishing his killer app - or at least get it into working order.

The ability of PodWorks to copy files from an iPod notwithstanding (any command line or decent file manager can already do this) it's the packaging of the product that is the nature of the beast - and even though PodWorks attempts to go further than to merely 'cheat' the RIAA all's for naught if the author's incapable of putting the proper finishing touches on the product.

In the case of PodWorks 2.8.5 almost anything that can be wrong is wrong; the author also sets some records of his own of dubious merit.

One (1) .DS_Store - which considering Buzz's appreciated expertise probably went undetected; and considering the inept tools he'd be using would have remained impervious to elimination unless of course it were attempted from the command line - and the likelihood's he wouldn't know how to get there and what to do if he did.

Framework header files are included. There's even a pre-compiled header.

The app has its own 'about' box which differs insignificantly from the standard built in box used by almost all Cocoa (and Apple) applications.

The app uses 'keyed objects' despite being compatible with 10.2 and therefore not being able to enjoy their benefits - at a cost of doubling the disk space needed for each NIB.

Although the two framework (PPC) binaries are stripped the main binary is not. Instead it's a debug image weighing in at 452796 bytes; after stripping it's only 123782 bytes. A simple click in the IDE or an even simpler command line and 300 KB of the total size disappears.

The most egregious of the above TIFF images is a 32x32 icon weighing in at an incredible 357284 bytes. After non-lossy LZW compression it's only 2038 bytes. The image is pictured below. This has to be some kind of world record. In stupidity.

← 357284 bytes on disk

By compressing the TIFF images 539164 bytes or 93.72% of their total space is eliminated in a few seconds.

The app contains an Apple script in binary form for communicating with iTunes - for sending 'tracks' to it.

There's a Localizable.strings file despite all the values being equal to their keys and despite the product only being available in 'English'.

The classes.nib and info.nib files were of course not cleaned out.

Thus from an original 113 items the package is down to 69; from an original 1374548 bytes it's down to 430551; from an original 3176 blocks it's down to 1096 - meaning savings of 2080 blocks or 1.0157 MB of disk space on a 400 KB download representing less than fifteen minutes work. 65% of the disk space was shit.

The reviewers at this site aren't working at Apple: they're only using Apple technology. The way it's intended to be used. And anyone can at any time drill into any mainstream Apple application bundle and see Apple also use the technology the way it's intended to be used.

PodWorks undoubtedly does a lot of wonderful things - things for which Buzz got his interview and subsequently his job at One Infinite Loop.

Recognition of iPod playlists. On-The-Go playlist support.

Integration with iTunes and iTunes-like searching and sorting.

Reads the iPod database directly, making for faster file transfers.

Song playback previews, organisational capabilities, and portability.

But that being said, and it being understood it was - according to Buzz - this precise application that got him his interview: who looked under the bonnet? And if Buzz has since been taught to do things the 'Apple way' what has he been doing for the past four years? That he hasn't had time to come back for ten minutes and revise his product?

PodWorks is still available for $8 through the eSellerate network. It's still only a PowerPC build but it should work through Rosetta. But before purchasing what might be a well functioning software title, isn't it more appropriate purchasers instead demand Buzz clean up his app?

Postscript: PodWorks 2.9

So Buzz finally has time on his hands. He must have been very busy those four years at Apple. For not only did he not have time to return to his app for ten minutes to clean it up - he evidently didn't have time to properly learn how to program Cocoa either.

PodWorks 2.9 is finally a universal binary - but in all other aspects it's the same piece of shit as last time. In particular that obscene TIFF for 357284 bytes (which should be 2038 bytes) is still there as are all the other obscenities.

Ladies and gentlemen: this guy is dumb. [They seem to like them that way in Cupertino. Ed.]

And if this is any indication of the quality of HR and programmers at the Loop it explains a lot: one more name to add to the celebrated list where the likes of Arno Gourdol, Brent Simmons, Punkass Jalkut, and Landon Fuller already proudly sit.